Lorraine Mace

Write Away! June 2009

Text Box: Learning Experiences Many holiday makers combine their annual trip abroad with learning a new skill. From baking French pastries to weaving on traditional looms, learning experience holidays are gaining in popularity. This means other people’s holiday experiences can provide ex-pats with writing opportunities. There are a number of viewpoints (business and leisure) from which we can report on these vacations, resulting in several articles using the same research. What are you looking for? You are looking for any schools offering residential courses which might be of interest to magazines on the subject. Looking in my region I found several, including painting holidays, regional cooking, wine tasting, horse riding for beginners, creative writing, language immersion and a music school. What’s the story? There are three avenues to explore. Firstly, are any of the owners or staff from the UK? This immediately opens up the possibility of features on ‘running a business abroad’ or ‘an unusual life abroad’. The second alternative is from the point of view of the actual course itself – what does it offer and why is the school doing so well? The third option is finding out who takes such holidays and why. What are the holiday makers hoping to gain from their experience? Why did they choose that subject? Who can you sell it to? Country-themed magazines, living abroad publications and holiday destination titles could be interested and each would require a different slant. If the proprietor or staff member is from the UK, you could also pitch to newspapers in the area where he or she lived before moving abroad. Specialist titles are another market. For example, if writing about a residential painting school, a magazine aimed at amateur artists might welcome a feature. Where to find the businesses Looking in the classified section of country-themed magazines (these are often available online) is one option. Local papers can be useful, as can ex-pat websites and the foreign equivalent of the yellow pages. Make contact with the person running the programme, explain your idea and arrange to spend at least a day at the school. You never know, you may even be offered a complimentary place on the course. Just think, you’ll not only have lots to write about and sell, but you might also acquire a brand new skill. Don’t forget to take a wide range of photographs; you’ll need a selection of ‘slants’ to illustrate the different articles. Write Away! Notes from the Margin


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